Document EP-A-0 248 743 discloses a modular connection device for connecting together pairs of insulated conductors. That device comprises an insulating support, two extender stacks of tubular contacts in the support, guide means making it possible for each contact to be displaced axially but not angularly relative to the support, and an actuating screw for driving two side-by-side contacts in translation relative to the support.
In that known device, all of the contacts are identical. Both of the ends of each of them are insulation-displacement ends so that a conductor can be connected to one of the insulation-displacement ends, and one of the ends of each of the contacts can be plugged into the other end of another contact in each stack.
The support is provided with sockets which can themselves be plugged together, which are retained on a metal stand connected to ground, and which retain the two stacks of contacts internally between them. Passageways are provided in the sockets facing the insulation-displacement ends of the contacts. They receive the electric conductors which are connected to the insulation-displacement ends by simultaneously displacing the side-by-side contacts relative to one of the sockets, by actuating the screw then anchored in the stand.
The stacked contacts may also be unplugged by actuating the screw and removing it from the stand, thereby unplugging the previously stacked contacts.
That known device may also be provided with a surge arrester for protecting equipment connected to the electric conductors. The surge arrester is removably mounted on an intermediate socket in the stack of sockets. It has two line-protection terminals connected to the top contacts in the two stacks of contacts, and a ground terminal electrically connected to the screw which is organized to be conductive.
Such a connection/disconnection device is relatively complex both in terms of the number of independent parts mounted separately from one another and also in terms of the resulting assembly/disassembly operations and the length of time required to connect together/disconnect pairs of conductors.